Shea Moments

[Guest Edgy DC]

I was going to do the concerts affiliated with games also, but I'm trying to isolate the non-baseball shows first.

[Gwreck]

Springsteen had no support act.

Elton John/Eric Clapton was the act immediately preceding Springsteen, August 21 and 22, 1992.


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My HS marching band also played at Shea, my senior year -- although 'twas a Mets game. Seems to me it was after Domencetti had retired, though.

[Fman99]

="Edgy DC"]OK, Hall of Fame here: Bands that played Shea 1965: Beatles, King Curtis Band, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Brenda Holloway, The Young Rascals, and Sounds Incorporated 1965 in Fiction: The Rutles (at Big Che) 1966: Beatles (don't know the support act or acts) 1970: Festival for Peace Concert: Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Jimi Jendrix (unconfirmed), Johnny Winter, Poco, Paul Simon, The James Gang 1971: Grand Funk Railroad, Humble Pie 1982: Simon and Garfunkle (No support acts, I think) 1983: The Police, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, REM 1983: The Who, The Clash, David Johansen 1989: The Rolling Stones, Living Color, An African Drum Band I Can't Remember 2003: Springsteen, Support Act?Fill in t Fill in the blanks.

Jimi Hendrix did not play at the Festival for Peace concert at Shea in 1970. He did play the NY Pop Festival at Randall's Island though, on 17 July of that year.

http://www.nii.net/~obie/jimi_hendrix_live.htm#1970

[Guest Edgy DC]

Two reasons that rumor may persist:

1) He showed but didn't play.

2) Too many peeps think he sings backup on "Piece of My Heart."

[Guest Kid Carsey]

I was at the DJ, Clash, Who show too and watched most of it from on top
of the Mets dugout. I think I've posted a few stories about that show on
various forms of our hangouts over the years so I won't repeat them.

[stevejrogers]

There is a book out on Shea's history, leafed through it at my local Borders. Great photos and a nice brisk read on it and the area's history.



Shea Stadium, Images of Baseball by Jason D. Antos.

Antos is a member of the Queens Historical Society and had a book about Whitestone come out last year.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm no Torre-hater, but that seems like a funny choice for a cover illustration.

I like putting Bill Shea on the cover, though.

[G-Fafif]

Antos book contains compelling pictures, tortured text, fun factual errors (Seaver won 25 games in 1967; Gooden was traded to the Mets in 1984) but a lot of heart and presumably accurate history about the Valley of Ashes and how it grew up to become an almost-now-defunct ballpark.

Once went to a baseball card show at Shea, held inside the Gate A/B entrance in 1978. Bought that year's Topps Seaver for presumably no more than a buck, first card (I guess) in which he was a Red. The irony only just hit me.

[Benjamin Grimm]

If the baseball stuff is inaccurate, why are you presuming that the neighborhood history is accurate?

When I see a book containing obvious mistakes about the stuff I know, it calls into question the accuracy of the parts I don't already know about.

I become suspicious of the entire work.

[stevejrogers]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: If the baseball stuff is inaccurate, why are you presuming that the neighborhood history is accurate? When I see a book containing obvious mistakes about the stuff I know, it calls into question the accuracy of the parts I don't already know about. I become suspicious of the entire work.

Ditto. Same questions pop up when dealing with Ken Burns' documentaries (just using Burns as an example) when little facts are wrong about stuff that certain people know tons about, why should other things be considered certified. You can't say "Oh his baseball documentary was full of small mistakes, but his jazz or Civil War documentary was flawless" based soley on the fact that you know baseball history well, but not so much about the Civil War or the history of jazz music.

Sloppy research is sloppy research and should call the entire piece into question (okay stop staring!).

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm not staring Steve. It's not like the first time you've fudged facts to suit your agenda. And then cried out that the credibility of your position shouldn't be damaged by the facts supporting it not being viable.

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: If the baseball stuff is inaccurate, why are you presuming that the neighborhood history is accurate?

Excellent question. Probably because most of the neighborhood is highly detailed and reasonably attributed and because the author's bailiwick is Queens history as opposed to baseball (and, to be fair, if he is misstating something happening at the intersection of Main Street and Northern Blvd. as happening in 1937 instead of 1936, I wouldn't know or notice or, my regard for accuracy notwithstanding, be bothered by it much). The Mets stuff isn't exactly shoehorned in there, but he seems less comfortable talking about it. I would normally warn you off a book that misstates a dozen or more Met facts (Mike Piazza being traded by the Dodgers to the Mets is just sloppy but "the team's main supporters are the residents of the two communities bordering the stadium, Flushing and Corona" is almost charming in its lunacy) but the pictures make everything worth the price of admission.

[Guest themetfairy]

Ringo Starr reminisces about Shea here, around the 2:30 mark -

]In the USA, when we played Shea We were Number 1, and it was fun